Blur Share ‘Go Out’, Announce New Album, Hyde Park Gig

In a surprise move, britpop legends Blur have announced The Magic Whip, their first album for 12 years, due for release on April 27th. They have also streamed the first single from the record, ‘Go Out’. They will also play at Hyde Park on June 20th as part of the British Summer Time Festival. Will have to get to that, methinks!

It’s quite the surprise move as Damon Albarn had recently announced that Gorillaz, his project with Jamie Hewlett, were working on new material for a 2016 release, and downplayed the chances of a new Blur record in July 2014 after sessions ended abruptly in Hong Kong, saying, “There’s some great tunes on there, but it may just be one of those records that never comes out.”

Despite this, when the band revisited recordings they sounded better than expected, according to a press conference the band held earlier today. Coxon brought the recordings to producer Stephen Street (The Smiths, Morrissey), who convinced the band to finish the album. Albarn and Coxon got together over Christmas in Hong Kong so Albarn could complete the lyrics.

Jamie Coughlan is the founder of Overblown. He talks a lot about himself and is totally pretentious. Terrible with personal finances. Loves beer gardens. He has written for the RTE Guide, A Music Blog, Yea?, The Thin Air, Gigwise, and is a contributor to The Tipping Point.

Overblown is all about subterreanean music. We aim to champion bands and record labels that we are passionate about and are overlooked and undervalued by the mainstream media machine, while still paying homage to the iconic bands and labels who laid and developed the groundwork for today’s emerging talent.